We prove an accuracy threshold theorem for fault-tolerant quantum computation based on error detection and postselection. Our proof provides a rigorous foundation for the scheme suggested by Knill, in which preparation circuits for ancilla states are protected by a concatenated error-detecting code and the preparation is aborted if an error is detected. The proof applies to independent stochastic noise but (in contrast to proofs of the quantum accuracy threshold theorem based on concatenated error-correcting codes) not to strongly-correlated adversarial noise. Our rigorously established lower bound on the accuracy threshold, 1.04 \times 10^{-3}, is well below Knill's numerical estimates.
The schemes for fault-tolerant postselected quantum computation given in [Knill, Fault-Tolerant Postselected Quantum Computation: Schemes, http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0402171] are analyzed to determine their error-tolerance. The analysis is based on computer-assisted heuristics. It indicates that if classical and quantum communication delays are negligible, then scalable qubit-based quantum computation is possible with errors above 1% per elementary quantum gate.
Postselected quantum computation is distinguished from regular quantum computation by accepting the output only if measurement outcomes satisfy predetermined conditions. The output must be accepted with nonzero probability. Methods for implementing postselected quantum computation with noisy gates are proposed. These methods are based on error-detecting codes. Conditionally on detecting no errors, it is expected that the encoded computation can be made to be arbitrarily accurate. Although the probability of success of the encoded computation decreases dramatically with accuracy, it is possible…
The framework of postselection is becoming more and more important in various recent directions in Quantum Computation research. Postselection renders simple computational models able to perform general quantum computation. This was first observed for the linear optics model [E. Knill, R. Laflamme, G. J. Milburn, Nature 409, 46 (2001)], and has since provided us with many near-term candidates for the quantum advantage, commuting computations [M. J. Bremner, R. Jozsa, D. J. Shepherd, Proc. R. Soc. A 467, 459 (2011)] being the first. To facilitate the discussion of errors in the presence of post…
Generating ground states of any local Hamiltonians seems to be impossible in quantum polynomial time. In this paper, we give evidence for the impossibility by applying an argument used in the quantum-computational-supremacy approach. More precisely, we show that if ground states of any $3$-local Hamiltonians can be approximately generated in quantum polynomial time with postselection, then ${\sf PP}={\sf PSPACE}$. Our result is superior to the existing findings in the sense that we reduce the impossibility to an unlikely relation between classical complexity classes. We also discuss what makes…
The Power of Power-of-SWAP: Postselected Quantum Computation with the Exchange Interaction
Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学卡文迪许实验室物理系）；Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford（牛津大学计算机系）；International Centre for Theory of Quantum Technologies, University of Gdańsk（格但斯克大学量子技术理论国际中心）
Postselected weak measurement has aroused broad interest for its distinctive ability to amplify small physical quantities. However, the low postselection efficiency to obtain a large weak value has been a big obstacle to its application in practice, since it may waste resources, and reduce the measurement precision. An improved protocol was proposed in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 030401 (2014)] to make the postselected weak measurement dramatically more efficient by using entanglement. Such a protocol can increase the Fisher information of the measurement to approximately saturate the well-known He…
Bennett and Schumacher's postselected quantum teleportation is a model of closed timelike curves (CTCs) that leads to results physically different from Deutsch's model. We show that even a single qubit passing through a postselected CTC (P-CTC) is sufficient to do any postselected quantum measurement, and we discuss an important difference between "Deutschian" CTCs (D-CTCs) and P-CTCs in which the future existence of a P-CTC might affect the present outcome of an experiment. Then, based on a suggestion of Bennett and Smith, we explicitly show how a party assisted by P-CTCs can distinguish a se…
In this paper we investigate the security of a quantum cryptographic scheme which utilizes balanced homodyne detection and weak coherent pulse (WCP). The performance of the system is mainly characterized by the intensity of the WCP and postselected threshold. Two of the simplest intercept/resend eavesdropping attacks are analyzed. The secure key gain for a given loss is also discussed in terms of the pulse intensity and threshold.
Vaidman, in a recent article adopts the method of 'quantum weak measurements in pre- and postselected ensembles' to ascertain whether or not the chained-Zeno counterfactual computation scheme proposed by Hosten et al. is counterfactual; which has been the topic of a debate on the definition of counterfactuality. We disagree with his conclusion, which brings up some interesting aspects of quantum weak measurements and some concerns about the way they are interpreted.
Extremely Low-Cost Magic State Preparation toward Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing
School of Physics, Peking University（北京大学物理学院）；Center on Frontiers of Computing Studies, School of Computer Science, Peking University（北京大学前沿交叉学科研究院计算机学院）
Spectral properties and coding transitions of Haar-random quantum codes
Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems（马克斯·普朗克复杂系统物理研究所）；University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）
This dissertation treats the topics of threshold calculation, ancilla construction, and non-standard error models. Chapter 2 introduces background material ranging from quantum mechanics to classical coding to thresholds for quantum computation. In Chapter 3 numerical and analytical means are used to generate estimates of and bounds on the threshold given an error model described by a restricted stochastic Pauli channel. Chapter 4 develops a simple, flexible means of estimating the threshold and applies it to some cases of interest. Finally, a novel method of ancilla construction is proposed i…
We present a scheme of fault-tolerant quantum computation for a local architecture in two spatial dimensions. The error threshold is 0.75% for each source in an error model with preparation, gate, storage and measurement errors.
Error-correction process has to be carried out periodically to prevent accumulation of errors in fault-tolerant quantum computation. It is believed that the best choice to get maximum threshold value is carrying out an error-correction process after each quantum gate operation. Result of this note shows that the optimal error-correction period depends on the value of k which is the level number of concatenated quantum error-correction code.
The error threshold for fault tolerant quantum computation with concatenated encoding of qubits is penalized by internal communication overhead. Many quantum computation proposals rely on nearest-neighbour communication, which requires excess gate operations. For a qubit stripe with a width of L+1 physical qubits implementing L levels of concatenation, we find that the error threshold of 2.1x10^-5 without any communication burden is reduced to 1.2x10^-7 when gate errors are the dominant source of error. This ~175X penalty in error threshold translates to an ~13X penalty in the amplitude and ti…
We study how much noise can be tolerated by a universal gate set before it loses its quantum-computational power. Specifically we look at circuits with perfect stabilizer operations in addition to imperfect non-stabilizer gates. We prove that for all unitary single-qubit gates there exists a tight depolarizing noise threshold that determines whether the gate enables universal quantum computation or if the gate can be simulated by a mixture of Clifford gates. This exact threshold is determined by the Clifford polytope spanned by the 24 single-qubit Clifford gates. The result is in contrast to t…
I make a rough estimate of the accuracy threshold for fault tolerant quantum computing with concatenated codes. First I consider only gate errors and use the depolarizing channel error model. I will follow P.Shor (quant-ph/9505011) for fault tolerant error correction (FTEC) and the fault tolerant implementation of elementary operations on states encoded by the 7-qubit code. A simple computer simulation suggests a threshold for gate errors of the order ε\approx 10^{-3} or better. I also give a simple argument that the threshold for memory errors is about 10 times smaller, thus ε\approx 10^{-4}.
Using an error models motivated by the Knill, Laflamme, Milburn proposal for efficient linear optics quantum computing [Nature 409,46--52, 2001], error rate thresholds for erasure errors caused by imperfect photon detectors using a 7 qubit code are derived and verified through simulation. A novel method -- based on a Markov chain description of the erasure correction procedure -- is developed and used to calculate the recursion relation describing the error rate at different encoding levels from which the threshold is derived, matching threshold predictions by Knill, Laflamme and Milburn [quan…
Recent research has demonstrated that quantum computers can solve certain types of problems substantially faster than the known classical algorithms. These problems include factoring integers and certain physics simulations. Practical quantum computation requires overcoming the problems of environmental noise and operational errors, problems which appear to be much more severe than in classical computation due to the inherent fragility of quantum superpositions involving many degrees of freedom. Here we show that arbitrarily accurate quantum computations are possible provided that the error pe…
In this paper we do a detailed numerical investigation of the fault-tolerant threshold for optical cluster-state quantum computation. Our noise model allows both photon loss and depolarizing noise, as a general proxy for all types of local noise other than photon loss noise. We obtain a threshold region of allowed pairs of values for the two types of noise. Roughly speaking, our results show that scalable optical quantum computing is possible for photon loss probabilities less than 0.003, and for depolarization probabilities less than 0.0001. Our fault-tolerant protocol involves a number of in…
To implement fault-tolerant quantum computation with continuous variables, the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) qubit has been recognized as an important technological element. However,it is still challenging to experimentally generate the GKP qubit with the required squeezing level, 14.8 dB, of the existing fault-tolerant quantum computation. To reduce this requirement, we propose a high-threshold fault-tolerant quantum computation with GKP qubits using topologically protected measurement-based quantum computation with the surface code. By harnessing analog information contained in the GKP qub…
We present a comprehensive and self-contained simplified review of the quantum computing scheme of Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 190504 (2007), which features a 2-D nearest neighbor coupled lattice of qubits, a threshold error rate approaching 1%, natural asymmetric and adjustable strength error correction and low overhead arbitrarily long-range logical gates. These features make it by far the best and most practical quantum computing scheme devised to date. We restrict the discussion to direct manipulation of the surface code using the stabilizer formalism, both of which we also briefly review, to mak…
I discuss how to perform fault-tolerant quantum computation with concatenated codes using local gates in small numbers of dimensions. I show that a threshold result still exists in three, two, or one dimensions when next-to-nearest-neighbor gates are available, and present explicit constructions. In two or three dimensions, I also show how nearest-neighbor gates can give a threshold result. In all cases, I simply demonstrate that a threshold exists, and do not attempt to optimize the error correction circuit or determine the exact value of the threshold. The additional overhead due to the faul…
We introduce a scheme for secure multi-party computation utilising the quantum correlations of entangled states. First we present a scheme for two-party computation, exploiting the correlations of a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state to provide, with the help of a third party, a near-private computation scheme. We then present a variation of this scheme which is passively secure with threshold t=2, in other words, remaining secure when pairs of players conspire together provided they faithfully follow the protocol. We show that this can be generalised to computations of n-party polynomials of d…
We previously established that in principle, it is possible to quantum compute using passive linear optics with photo-detectors (quant-ph/0006088). Here we describe techniques based on error detection and correction that greatly improve the resource and device reliability requirements needed for scalability. The resource requirements are analyzed for ideal linear optics quantum computation (LOQC). The coding methods can be integrated both with loss detection and phase error-correction to deal with the primary relaxation processes in non-ideal optics, including detector inefficiencies. The main…
We analyze and study the effects of locality on the fault-tolerance threshold for quantum computation. We analytically estimate how the threshold will depend on a scale parameter r which estimates the scale-up in the size of the circuit due to encoding. We carry out a detailed semi-numerical threshold analysis for concatenated coding using the 7-qubit CSS code in the local and `nonlocal' setting. First, we find that the threshold in the local model for the [[7,1,3]] code has a 1/r dependence, which is in correspondence with our analytical estimate. Second, the threshold, beyond the 1/r depende…
The quantum threshold theorem shows that a noisy quantum computer can accurately and efficiently simulate any ideal quantum computation provided that noise is weakly correlated and its strength is below a critical value known as the quantum accuracy threshold. This thesis provides a simpler and more transparent non-inductive proof of this theorem based on the concept of level reduction. This concept is also used in proving the quantum threshold theorem for coherent and leakage noise and for quantum computation by measurements. In addition, the proof provides a methodology which allows us to es…
We have previously (quant-ph/9608012) shown that for quantum memories and quantum communication, a state can be transmitted over arbitrary distances with error $ε$ provided each gate has error at most $cε$. We discuss a similar concatenation technique which can be used with fault tolerant networks to achieve any desired accuracy when computing with classical initial states, provided a minimum gate accuracy can be achieved. The technique works under realistic assumptions on operational errors. These assumptions are more general than the stochastic error heuristic used in other work. Methods are…
We demonstrate an improved concatenated encoded ancilla preparation procedure. Simulations show that this procedure significantly increases the error threshold beneath which arbitrarily long quantum computations are possible.
In this paper, we place bounds on when it is impossible to purify a noisy two-qubit state if all the gates used in the purification protocol are subject to adversarial local, independent, noise. It is found that the gate operations must be subject to less than 5.3% error. An existing proof that purification is equivalent to error correction is used to show that this bound can also be applied to concatenated error correcting codes in the presence of noisy gates, and hence gives a limit to the tolerable error rate for a fault-tolerant quantum computer formed by concatenation. This is shown to ap…
We investigate the effect of stochastic control errors in the time-dependent Hamiltonian on isolated quantum dynamics. The control errors are formulated as time-dependent stochastic noise in the Schrodinger equation. For a class of stochastic control errors, we establish a threshold theorem that provides a sufficient condition to obtain the target state, which should be determined in noiseless isolated quantum dynamics, as a relation between the number of measurements and noise strength. The theorem guarantees that if the sum of the noise strengths is less than the inverse of computational tim…
Von Neumann's classic "multiplexing" method is unique in achieving high-threshold fault-tolerant classical computation (FTCC), but has several significant barriers to implementation: i) the extremely complex circuits required by randomized connections, ii) the difficulty of calculating its performance in practical regimes of both code size and logical error rate, and iii) the (perceived) need for large code sizes. Here we present numerical results indicating that the third assertion is false, and introduce a novel scheme that eliminates the two remaining problems while retaining a threshold ve…
The one-way quantum computing model introduced by Raussendorf and Briegel [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (22), 5188-5191 (2001)] shows that it is possible to quantum compute using only a fixed entangled resource known as a cluster state, and adaptive single-qubit measurements. This model is the basis for several practical proposals for quantum computation, including a promising proposal for optical quantum computation based on cluster states [M. A. Nielsen, arXiv:quant-ph/0402005, accepted to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett.]. A significant open question is whether such proposals are scalable in the presence …
Many proposals for quantum information processing are subject to detectable loss errors. In this paper, we show that topological error correcting codes, which protect against computational errors, are also extremely robust against losses. We present analytical results showing the maximum tolerable loss rate is 50 %, which is determined by the square-lattice bond percolation threshold. This saturates the bound set by the no-cloning theorem. Our numerical results support this, and show a graceful trade-off between computational and loss errors.
We consider the problem of fault tolerance in the graph-state model of quantum computation. Using the notion of composable simulations, we provide a simple proof for the existence of an accuracy threshold for graph-state computation by invoking the threshold theorem derived for quantum circuit computation. Lower bounds for the threshold in the graph-state model are then obtained from known bounds in the circuit model under the same noise process.
We investigate the amount of noise required to turn a universal quantum gate set into one that can be efficiently modelled classically. This question is useful for providing upper bounds on fault tolerant thresholds, and for understanding the nature of the quantum/classical computational transition. We refine some previously known upper bounds using two different strategies. The first one involves the introduction of bi-entangling operations, a class of classically simulatable machines that can generate at most bipartite entanglement. Using this class we show that it is possible to sharpen pre…
Demonstrating quantum supremacy, a complexity-guaranteed quantum advantage against over the best classical algorithms by using less universal quantum devices, is an important near-term milestone for quantum information processing. Here we develop a threshold theorem for quantum supremacy with noisy quantum circuits in the pre-threshold region, where quantum error correction does not work directly. We show that, even in such a region, we can virtually simulate quantum error correction by postselection. This allows us to show that the output sampled from the noisy quantum circuits (without posts…
A scheme for linear optical implementation of fault-tolerant quantum computation is proposed, which is based on an error-detecting code. Each computational step is mediated by transfer of quantum information into an ancilla system embedding error-detection capability. Photons are assumed to be subjected to both photon loss and depolarization, and the threshold region of their strengths for scalable quantum computation is obtained, together with the amount of physical resources consumed. Compared to currently known results, the present scheme reduces the resource requirement, while yielding a c…
Recent work on fault-tolerant quantum computation making use of topological error correction shows great potential, with the 2d surface code possessing a threshold error rate approaching 1% (NJoP 9:199, 2007), (arXiv:0905.0531). However, the 2d surface code requires the use of a complex state distillation procedure to achieve universal quantum computation. The colour code of (PRL 97:180501, 2006) is a related scheme partially solving the problem, providing a means to perform all Clifford group gates transversally. We review the colour code and its error correcting methodology, discussing one a…
In the recent paper Terhal and Burkard derived a threshold result for fault-tolerant quantum computation under the assumption of the non-Markovian noise and claimed to rebut the objections rised by Alicki and Horodecki's. The purpose of this note is to show that the main condition used by Terhal and Burkard, although looking quite innocently, implies the assumption of the extremally low probability error per single quantum gate - p < 10^{-8} - 10^{-12} - i.e. the square of the expected threshold value for the case of Markovian noise.
The surface code is a promising candidate for fault-tolerant quantum computation, achieving a high threshold error rate with nearest-neighbor gates in two spatial dimensions. Here, through a series of numerical simulations, we investigate how the precise value of the threshold depends on the noise model, measurement circuits, and decoding algorithm. We observe thresholds between 0.502(1)% and 1.140(1)% per gate, values which are generally lower than previous estimates.
The field of quantum computation currently lacks a formal proof of experimental feasibility. Qubits are fragile and sophisticated quantum error correction is required to achieve reliable quantum computation. The surface code is a promising quantum error correction code, requiring only a physically reasonable 2-D lattice of qubits with nearest neighbor interactions. However, existing proofs that reliable quantum computation is possible using this code assume the ability to measure four-body operators and, despite making this difficult to realize assumption, require that the error rate of these …
I describe a procedure for calculating thresholds for quantum computation as a function of error model given the availability of ancillae prepared in logical states with independent, identically distributed errors. The thresholds are determined via a simple counting argument performed on a single qubit of an infinitely large CSS code. I give concrete examples of thresholds thus achievable for both Steane and Knill style fault-tolerant implementations and investigate their relation to threshold estimates in the literature.
Recently Shor showed how to perform fault tolerant quantum computation when the error probability is logarithmically small. We improve this bound and describe fault tolerant quantum computation when the error probability is smaller than some constant threshold. The cost is polylogarithmic in time and space, and no measurements are used during the quantum computation. The result holds also for quantum circuits which operate on nearest neighbors only. To achieve this noise resistance, we use concatenated quantum error correcting codes. The scheme presented is general, and works with all quantum …
Fault-tolerant quantum computing based on surface codes has emerged as a popular route to large-scale quantum computers capable of accurate computation even in the presence of noise. Its popularity is, in part, because the fault-tolerance or accuracy threshold for surface codes is believed to be less stringent than competing schemes. This threshold is the noise level below which computational accuracy can be increased by increasing physical resources for noise removal, and is an important engineering target for realising quantum devices. The current conclusions about surface code thresholds ar…
We suggest a technique for constructing lower (existence) bounds for the fault-tolerant threshold to scalable quantum computation applicable to degenerate quantum codes with sublinear distance scaling. We give explicit analytic expressions combining probabilities of erasures, depolarizing errors, and phenomenological syndrome measurement errors for quantum LDPC codes with logarithmic or larger distances. These threshold estimates are parametrically better than the existing analytical bound based on percolation.
We rigorously analyze Knill's Fibonacci scheme for fault-tolerant quantum computation, which is based on the recursive preparation of Bell states protected by a concatenated error-detecting code. We prove lower bounds on the threshold fault rate of .67\times 10^{-3} for adversarial local stochastic noise, and 1.25\times 10^{-3} for independent depolarizing noise. In contrast to other schemes with comparable proved accuracy thresholds, the Fibonacci scheme has a significantly reduced overhead cost because it uses postselection far more sparingly.
Quantum error correction and fault-tolerance make it possible to perform quantum computations in the presence of imprecision and imperfections of realistic devices. An important question is to find the noise rate at which errors can be arbitrarily suppressed. By concatenating the 7-qubit Steane and 15-qubit Reed-Muller codes, the 105-qubit code enables a universal set of fault-tolerant gates despite not all of them being transversal. Importantly, the CNOT gate remains transversal in both codes, and as such has increased error protection relative to the other single qubit logical gates. We show…
It has been known that quantum error correction via concatenated codes can be done with exponentially small failure rate if the error rate for physical qubits is below a certain accuracy threshold. Other, unconcatenated codes with their own attractive features-improved accuracy threshold, local operations-have also been studied. By iteratively distilling a certain two-qubit entangled state it is shown how to perform an encoded Toffoli gate, important for universal computation, on CSS codes that are either unconcatenated or, for a range of very large block sizes, singly concatenated.
